Keep My Pace
by bloodiedangle
Summary: AU Falling in love with an asexual idiot hadn't exactly been on the agenda, but then again, neither had kidnapping. KanAre


The day started out as usual: typical and boring. Allen got up at seven, got ready, and went to catch the bus that came two blocks away from his house.

After he'd put his lunch bag in the fridge, he stepped out of the door marked "employees only" and chatted idly with Marie as he waited for the phone to ring. They talked about anything that needed to be done. The ovens would be turned on, the plates cleaned, and the floor mopped. The food would be taken out to prepare for any early eaters, and then Allen would be left to wait again.

He'd known for almost as long as he worked there that no one really called until after four o'clock. No one ate pizza or pasta for breakfast, so there wouldn't be any orders. Occasionally, a group of students would place a large order a few days in advance for their class, but the place down the street was usually called instead.

Despite the inactivity, Komui remained firm in opening the shop at nine in the morning everyday, not that Allen could complain. The extra time easily allowed him to begin chipping away at Cross' debt, but spending hours in a pizza shop doing absolutely nothing killed him. He needed to find something to do, otherwise he was sure he was going to die of boredom.

Even with the pizza ovens on, the room was still freezing. Complaining to Komui never helped though. He'd just pat his head and push him back into his chair. So he sighed again and continued staring at the phone, willing it to ring and playing with the tiny grains of salt that hadn't been cleaned off of the table.

The day passed slowly, with only a few customers here and there. By the time it was dark out, it seemed as though no one else would be coming into the store that day. Allen decided that since no customers would be coming in and that his boss wouldn't come and check on him for a while, that it would be okay to take a short nap. And so the boy stretched his arms across the counter and slowly rested his head onto them, shifting around a little to try and get as comfortable as possible. He was never a fan of stiff necks, and soon the boy's eyelids began to close and as he was plunged into a world of darkness.

Soft footsteps that could only belong to Lenalee were heard as she walked down the hallway. A few moments later, the girl appeared at the kitchen entrance and walked in towards where the boy lay sleeping. "Allen?" She poked his shoulder and the boy groaned, the remnants of sleep still evident. "We're closing early tonight, so you can go home."

The silver haired boy looked up at the Asian girl with tired eyes, considering his options. If he went home early, Cross would make him do chores and run errands. But if they were closing early, he couldn't really stay. Komui didn't like letting anyone close up besides himself or his sister, something about pride of the restaurant, Allen assumed.

Scratching the back of his head with a pout on his face, Allen got up and went to the back room to get his jacket. As soon as he was ready, he said goodbye to Lenalee and walked out into the cold night.

"Yuu, we gotta do it tonight," the redhead's face had gone from its usual sly expression to a completely serious one, making Kanda groan. He's long since given up trying to make the other stop calling him by that awful name, but he could tell from just one look that Lavi was right. Tyki would only be around for a few more days and for some reason, which Kanda will never understand, he'd agreed to help the dumb rabbit.

With a sigh, the raven -haired boy stood up and grabbed his keys. They'd have to wait until later tonight, but securing a perimeter around the car they picked was important; for reasons that Kanda didn't quite understand. But if Lavi was the mastermind, nothing he thought or said mattered anyway.

It was so early. It didn't feel right. Because his watch was broken, he really had no way to tell what time it was. With barely enough money to make the rent, a functional clock wasn't their highest priority; after all, Tiedoll had decided to pay for his phone.

"Yuu!" The redhead yelled as he jumped to his feet from his spot on the couch. "I'll go warm the car up a little. You better come down soon," the younger boy said with a pout as he snatched the keys from Kanda's hand and ran out the door. Now that he was thinking about it, it really was sad that two grown men were going to do a dumb dare just to impress a guy that he'd probably never see again.

Walking down the old, wooden staircase to the driveway, Kanda pulled his coat around him tighter. It was too cold to be doing shit like this. They were behind on their bills, even though he hated to admit it. A two bedroom apartment was too much for them, they'd been trying to find another roommate, but it was just so crappy that no one even bothered to call. The electricity bill was always high in the winter; heating cost to much, so they barely used it anyway. Now that he thought about it, the apartment was probably only a few degrees warmer than it was outside.

Two cars sat in the small driveway, one covered in snow and the other with a thin layer of ice on its surface. If they could barely afford the electricity bill, then gas was out of the question. The second car had just been sitting there for months. Maybe they should sell it already…

Lavi was sitting in the driver's seat, rubbing his gloved hands together to try to keep warm when Kanda opened the noisy door and sat down, sinking into the old seat. The redhead turned to look at him as he fixed the mirrors and tried to turn the heat on, hitting the dashboard until it clicked and cold aired started flooding out into their faces.

"Sorry, Yuu, it wouldn't turn on until now. Let it heat up I guess…" Lavi mumbled as he changed the direction of the air vents. They both knew that the air didn't get much warmer than this; the car wasn't necessarily old, it was just unused and not taken care of well enough.

Kanda gave a small grunt and folded his arms across his chest as he waited for it to warm up. It was the middle of winter and half the streets in their town were covered in snow. How did that think they were going to get away with stealing a car? If someone peaked out their window and saw them, they could easily run and catch up to them and the roads were too icy to drive away fast. Maybe they were going to go after an older model car so that people might not care. It wasn't like they weren't planning on bringing it back, anyway. They'd only keep it until the following morning, when Tyki and Road usually came over.

With a grin, Lavi turned away from him before backing up and pulling onto the road. There weren't many people around, even though it was only two, and once it started getting darker, Kanda knew that the younger boy would begin getting excited. Kanda knew how to break into a car, and Lavi knew how to start it without the keys.

"That one," the redhead said as they turned into a street full of family homes. He'd pointed to a new model of some popular car. He wouldn't lie; it'd be nice to have one like that for a day.

"You dumb ass, this isn't the right kind of neighborhood. The police can track that shit, idiot." Kanda turned away from Lavi and looked out the window, watching as the car turned onto a new street. As they drove, they approached a line of trees, snow falling off the branches and into heaps on the ground. They turned and found an apartment complex hidden and separated by rows of trees. To get in they needed to go over a curb and onto the worn path that all of the tenants probably used. Slowly, they drove up and down the aisles, and once they were bored, they exited through a separate entrance. This one had broken street lights and wasn't as crowded as others. This kind of area could probably work.

"Yuu, that one," this time, Lavi pointed to an older car, probably from '06 or '07. Because he didn't really care much for cars, Kanda couldn't name the brand. It was plain and black, parked along a curb near the row of trees. "I'm likin' it. It's easier to pick locks on older cars anyway, yeah?"

This was ridiculous. After talking about it for weeks, and honestly thinking that even the dumb ass rabbit wasn't stupid enough to try, here they were, in the middle of the winter, trying to decide which car would be easiest to steal.

"Fine, what do we do now?" He asked as Lavi chewed on his bottom lip, staring at the car and tapping the steering wheel.

"Go home? Or maybe we could look for new jobs? Dunno about you, but I won't have enough for my half of the bills this month."

"That's fucking great. When did you plan to tell me that? There's only a few days left to pay it."

"Huh," the redhead laid his chin on the steering wheel as Kanda glared at him. "I could be in a porno. They get paid a lot, right? Especially gay stuff. One shoot and I'd be able to pay my half for at least two months."

"You're an idiot."

"I could deal. Or maybe we could grow weed in the closet." It was quiet after that, as if they were both considering it. "That might work, Yuu. Lots of-"

"No. You can't afford to go to prison."

"Well, what we're going to do could send us to jail." Kanda closed his eyes when the other said that, sighing and trying to calm himself down. They should get second jobs, Lavi was right, but then he'd have to work nights as well.

"Where should we go looking?" The mall down the street was always looking for new employees, but for good reasons. They usually ended up hired teenagers who'd socialize and steal. No adult would want to work there.

"I call the liquor store," Lavi said as he glanced toward his friend, sniffing through his nose loudly and wiping it with his palm much like that of a small child.

"They're hiring?"

"Yeah, lucky me." The Asian closed his eyes again and tried to calm himself down. He'd get a shitty job if he was competing with Lavi.

"Isn't working at that bookstore enough? You get paid more than anyone else there."

"Whatever, Yuu. I'm driving home."

The sun had set twenty minutes ago and Lavi was running around his room searching for something. It really wasn't amusing at all, he was tearing the room apart, and if he didn't find what he was looking for, Kanda's room would be next.

"Aren't you ready yet?" Kanda barked at the other who was in the bathroom now. As he finished, someone stepped out of the bathroom wearing all black with what looked like a sock on his head. "Lavi, you moron, take that shit off."

"Why? I've been planning my outfit for a week. Redheads stick out cuz there aren't that many of us."

"It's dark out, idiot. No one can see your hair. Lets go already."

As they pulled around the corner to the nearly empty street, their car decided to start sputtering and making loud noises. They both stopped and turned to stare at each other, deciding if they should still try their plan.

"Who's driving the car back?"

"You, obviously. Your idea, you do it," Kanda scoffed.

"Maybe we should walk there or something. I'm not driving it back be myself."

"Lavi, I swear to God, if you back out now I'll kill you."

"Come on, Yuu, I dare you to drive it back." With a twitch, Kanda's back straightened and he snarled at the other boy. The redhead knew that he didn't back down on dares. That wasn't right at all.

"Fuck you," he growled as he threw the squeaky car door open. "Get your ass out, I'll go pick the lock." He walked up to the car that they had chosen earlier that day with his arms swinging by his sides, trying to look badass and unafraid. As he approached the car door, he took one last look around and decided to try the door just in case. Sure enough, it opened with a click and Lavi stood behind him, eyebrows raised.

"Start it up," he said impatiently, not wanting to hang around longer than needed.

"Sure thing, boss. Just gimme a minute…"

Within five minutes, Lavi had popped something out and now the car was running with a gentle hum. "There ya' go," he said proudly as he made to move away from the car and towards their own. "Time to go, Yuu. Good luck," he said with a salute and started to speed walk away.

Kanda rolled his eyes and climbed into the drivers seat cautiously. The care was kind of old… It smelled like alcohol and grease and the seats were worn as hell.

He pulled behind Lavi as the other made his way out of the apartment area and through the maze of trees. Every time they stopped at a light, he'd find himself looking around a little worriedly. How many years could you go to jail for grand theft auto…?

When they finally got home, Lavi waited for him to pull in first so they could hide the car behind the piles of snow. Once he pulled in, the redhead came up behind him and shut the engine off his car. Well, so far everything was working out fine…

"Fuck yeah, Yuu! We did it! We owned that shit!" Lavi got out of his car and hopped around outside Kanda's window excitedly. It was snowing lightly now and the flakes were getting caught in the redheads' hair.

"Come on out so I can shut it down." Lavi called to Kanda.

Just as he was about to open the door for the other, he heard a yawn from the backseat. He froze and tried to breathe softly and motioned for Lavi to take a look, but the redhead was too busy doing his victory dance to notice his exasperated looks. _Fuck, _he breathed.

As fast as he could, Kanda threw the door open and slammed it shut. That had probably woken whatever was in the car, but he didn't really have any other choice.

"Lavi," He snapped and slapped the top of his head. "There's something in the backseat. Why the hell didn't you check before you got out?" This definitely ranked the top ten stupid things that Lavi had ever done, next to throwing a TV out the window last year.

"Owe, Yuu! How was I supposed to know? And it's not like you looked either, anyway!" It was the truth, but he was the one that was stuck driving the _stolen _car away. He shouldn't be the one blamed for this. "But what do we do now, huh?"

With a glance to the backseat of the car, he could see the figure of someone sitting up and looking around. There was a hood over their head, and their jacket was oversized, but it was probably a guy, a little smaller than himself or Lavi. But Kanda realized that once the stranger started to notice that he was in a different place than where he fell asleep, he'd panic and try to get out of the car. Or worse he'd call the police from his phone. _Shit._

Lurching towards the car door, he opened it and was on top of the boy in one motion, pinning him down while the boy struggled and screamed. Lavi stood there, staring as Kanda emerged with a cell phone and growling something along the lines of "block the doors, idiot," just as the kid in the car started trying to get out.

"Yuu! What're we supposed to do? We can't just take a hostage!" Lavi had managed to say between bangs from the inside of the car, accompanied by loud yells.

"You should've thought about that before we stole the damn car!"

"How was I supposed to know people still slept in their cars?"

"By looking in the backseat!"

The kid inside the car was desperately trying to open the door, pushing as hard as he could but not succeeding. After banging on the window, he decided to use his feet and laid on his back, kicking at the window first, then the unlocked door. Kanda's eyes opened wide as it started to open. He couldn't stop the pressure of two legs, and if Lavi came to his side to help, the other door would be wide open for the captive's escape.

"Fuck!" He snapped as the door cracked open, letting a little bit of warm air hit his jeans. It was either let him out through the door, or get the window smashed into his head… Either way, he was screwed.

"Let me out! Who the hell are you? Let me go!" Even though he was shouting for help, he sounded more like a whiny child that had crawled into the car when no one was looking. He hadn't actually said anything about them stealing the car, so maybe he knew that he wouldn't be saved… sort of.

Lavi was looking at him with a slightly horrified face as he listened to the kid in the car kick and scream. He looked back and forth between them, frantic and indecisive on whether or not to let him out. He stared at Kanda, who was using as much force as he could to keep the door closed, and let go of his side of the door, waiting to see what would happen.

"Lavi, you idiot! Hold your fucking side!"

"I dunno, Yuu…"

"It was your idea to steal the damn car, hold the door!" At the last word, in a slightly comical way, Kanda was sent flying backwards into the snow, landing on his ass and yelling when the short boy jumped out of the car.

In the blink of an eye, Kanda was off the ground and sprinting after the other, torsos connecting with a thud before they were both on the ground, the hood falling off the shorter boy's head to reveal silver hair as his face was buried in the cold snow. He flailed about underneath Kanda, swinging his arms and legs as hard as he could in hopes of knocking him off.

They were in a rather awkward position, the boy realized: pinned on his stomach in the quickly-melting snow by a strange man that he'd never met before. If Cross found out about any of this, he'd punish him somehow. Probably increase his debts or something more drastic.

"Yuu! You're gonna crush him!" The redhead yelled as he ran up to his friend, trying to hold the Asian's arms behind his back as the raven haired man tried to press the smaller boy's shoulders harder against the ground.

"Yuu! Get off of him!"

Even though Lavi was serious, there was a grin on his face. In some strange way, it was amusing to watch his usually cold and controlled friend lose it because of him. If he'd checked the backseat, or maybe not have even bothered with this dumb plan, they wouldn't be in the freezing cold night air holding a kidnapped kid against the snow.

"He's gonna run off, dumb ass. We can't have that," Kanda growled as he pulled one of the kid's arms behind his back roughly, eliciting a small yelp from him. Lavi knew it was the truth, if he was being beat down he knew he'd run like hell the second he was released.

Bending over, he gave up pulling Kanda back and bent over the boy in the snow, trying to look into his eyes. There was a strange scar there; out of place on his pale skin.

"Neh, neh, you wouldn't try to run, right? We're not gonna hurt ya' so don't worry, 'kay?" Like that was a convincing argument. Every killer in the world had probably said that at some point.

"Yeah, yeah, sure! Just let me up!" the boys' arms were still jerking back and forth persistently, although he'd given up using his legs. Hesitantly, Kanda glanced at him before getting up, muttering one of his usual "che"s as he wiped the snow from his pants.

"What's your name?"

"Uh, I'm Allen," as the boy stood, Lavi took in the rest of his face: the red scar running down the left side of his face, gray eyes, and white hair. There was something strange about it, but he knew better than to ask. After all, they'd just stolen his car and tackled him.

"Well, Allen, I think we should go inside and dry you off," Lavi said with a smile, watching as Kanda began walking off towards the stairs leading to the door. Kanda's mood had changed the second he'd heard the noise in the backseat, and now he'd probably go and hide in his room.

Not quite sure if he could trust the redhead, Allen stood and nodded his head, eager to get out of the soaked clothes. His stomach felt raw and numb from the snow that had rubbed against it and he wanted nothing more than to borrow clothes to change. It really wasn't that bad, the two older men didn't seem like they meant any harm; they'd just been after his Master's car, which didn't make much sense because of the shitty condition it was in after years of use.

As they walked closer to the door, he noticed that the snow had started to come down harder and there was a thin layer on the steps he had to walk up. Being clumsy, holding the handrail is what he should've chosen, but there wasn't one, and he instead tripped and fell on his ass, soaking that too with snow.

Lavi stood above him, blinking down at him in a slightly curious matter with a grin on his face, no doubt hiding his laughter.

"I'm sorry!" Allen mumbled as he scrambled to his feet again and started ascending the steps in a more careful manner.

"I'm Lavi, by the way," the redhead grinned at him again as he opened the door to the apartment, frowning once he looked inside. "Our heat just got shut off, sorry it's gonna be cold."

Nodding, he followed in after Lavi and looked around the small living room. The other one, called Kanda apparently, had disappeared and so Lavi went looking for him.

"Be right back, gotta get ya' some clothes, yeah? Sit on the couch or somethin'."

He realized, after he'd sat down, that there must have been something wrong with him. Here he was, covered in snow and sitting on a strangers couch, and he barely cared that he'd been kidnapped. So far it hadn't been that bad here; getting tackled for trying to run away was understandable. Neither of them had been expecting to meet someone new that night.

When Lavi returned, he threw a blue shirt and sweat pants at him, saying something about the bathroom being the first door on the left. He nodded again and stood up slowly, not quite sure whether or not he should be so friendly with them yet.

"I can't believe you didn't check the fucking back," Kanda yelled as he walked up beside his roommate, grabbing his shirt and pushing him backwards as the brat they'd stolen was in their bathroom changing. "How could you be so damn stupid?"

"Yuu-poo, it wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind, ya' know? I mean, who really sleeps in the back of their cars anymore. Besides, it's all workin' out fine as it is. He's not gonna run away or anything, we're on the second floor."

"Don't call me that," he snapped as he threw Lavi onto the couch and went to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"Well, we gotta explain to him what's happenin', I guess. We're only keepin' the car until tomorrow morning, right? So he should be fine sleepin' on the couch or somethin'…"

It used to surprise Kanda how stupid Lavi was sometimes. He used to think that for someone that had a photographic memory, he couldn't even function right among people. Maybe he had Asperger's, Kanda thought. But once he saw how out of his way that Lavi went to talk to and irritate people, Kanda dropped the thought. He'd instead decided to accept that _he _was the antisocial one. Not that he'd ever care.

As stupid as it was, it was their only real option. They had the kid's phone, and if someone slept out by the door and locked the kid in their room, they could handle him for the night…

Just as he was about to open his mouth to argue with Lavi, the smaller boy came out of the bathroom and hesitantly walked over to the couch, choosing to sit on the other side of the room and away from the door.

"Hey, what do ya' say you stay for the night? Hmm?" Lavi was as straightforward as ever.

Allen bit his lip before looking around for a second, his eyes narrowing down on the kitchen knives that were on the counter before coming back to Lavi.

"I… think we could do that, if you don't mind explaining to me what the hell you're doing first."

The rabbit glanced over to Kanda for a moment before shrugging and leaning back into the couch, making himself comfortable. "We had a bet with… somebody that we could steal a car. Guess I was just tryin' to impress him, we didn't mean any harm by it, I swear, we were gonna have it back to you before noon tomorrow."

Allen nodded slowly as he took the information in, glancing around the dark room idly instead of at Lavi or Kanda. "I guess I could forget all of this as long as I don't get hurt or anything. I mean, you could just drive me home and let me sleep there, and as long as the car was back by the afternoon, I wouldn't care at all. Just let me go-"

"You dumb ass bean sprout, we can't just let you go home. For all we fucking know you could just go and report it to the police. You're staying here."

"Yuu, he's stayin' in your room then, 'cuz mine's really messy." It was completely quiet for a moment as the realization of what the redhead had said set in. Kanda's head snapped up the next second, glaring death at the other man. He was about to argue, but closed his mouth once he opened it. "You won't let 'im sleep on the couch, so he's gotta stay in your room, Yuu."

"Che," he stood up and went to the door to make sure the locks were all in place before walking back down the hallway and into his room. He closed the door and reemerged a moment later, holding a blanket. "We're all going to sleep out here then," he snapped as he took a seat on the free couch on the other side of the room, sighing lightly as he closed his eyes for a second and propped his feet up on the coffee table.

By the time he opened his eyes again, a little bit of light was peeking in through the window into the room. The first thing he noticed was how cold it was. Even with what felt like four blanket wrapped around him, his fingers felt like icicles and his feet were frozen. Glancing up, he saw a small mop of red hair poking out from beneath a pile of blankets on the other side of the room and almost forgot what had happened.

Forcing himself off of the couch and into the freezing air of the room, he folded his blankets and left them in a neat pile where he'd been sitting. Making his way into the small kitchen, he found Kanda sitting in a chair with a meter stick tucked between his legs and arms. Well then…

"Good morning," he greeted as he took a seat across from him, smiling lightly at the others sleepy face.

"What do you want? We don't have any food for you."

Frowning slightly now, Allen scratched the back of his head awkwardly, trying to smile. "No, I'm not hungry or anything, I just wanted to see what you were doing."

"Che, why the hell does that matter? Get back in there and don't annoy me."

Pouting slightly, Allen bit his lip and looked around the tidy kitchen. "You don't have to be so mean about it," he said as he stood up to leave but decided to sit back down, noticing as Kanda's eyes snapped to him and glared. "Around what time do you suppose I can leave? I have work around one."

"Not by one."

They sat awkwardly as Lavi's snores traveled to the room they were in, making things nearly unbearable. "So… this was all because Lavi likes somebody?"

"Yeah."

Kanda was certainly someone of few words. It'd been hard enough to break the silence once, but now… "You said 'he' last night, is he gay?" He questioned innocently as he titled his head to look back and forth between the Asian and the doorway to the living room.

"Hell no, he's… undecided. He goes for anything on two fucking legs."

"Huh." And it went back to being silent again, until the older man's foot began tapping against the floor, impatiently. "Do you want me to leave that bad?" Allen teased, leaning forward against the table on his elbows.

"The only reason I didn't knock you out was because that dumb ass-" he motioned the living room, "didn't let me."

Glancing at the floor, Allen tried to ignore Kanda by counting the cracks in the tile. He didn't really care if this random man didn't like him, he just needed to get out and go to work in time. "Could someone drive me there, then?" He asked innocently and titled his head to the side a little, as if he was thinking.

"Of course not, you moron"


End file.
